Title information:

Synopsis:

13 Reasons Why meets the poetry of Emily Dickinson in this gripping debut novel perfect for fans of Sara Zarr or Jennifer Brown.

A Goth girl with an attitude problem, Elizabeth Davis must learn to control her anger before it destroys her. Emily Delgado appears to be a smart, sweet girl, with a normal life, but as depression clutches at her, she struggles to feel normal. Both girls are in Ms. Diaz’s English class, where they connect to the words of Emily Dickinson. Both are hovering on the edge of an emotional precipice. One of them will attempt suicide. And with Dickinson’s poetry as their guide, both girls must conquer their personal demons to ever be happy.

In an emotionally taut novel with a richly diverse cast of characters, readers will relish in the poetry of Emily Dickinson and be completely swept up in the turmoil of two girls grappling with demons beyond their control.

On Emily Dickinson's Hope Is the Thing with Feathers and How it Relates to When Reason Breaks

If you haven't readHope is a Thing With Feathers, please do. It's one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems, and also think it goes well with the journey being undertaken by Emily Delgado and Elizabeth Davis from When Reason Breaks.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

-Emily Dickinson

When Cindy Rodriguez first introduces us to Emily and Elizabeth, both girls are in difficult, uncertain periods of their life. It reflects in everything that they do; from their relationships to their peers, to their relationshipswith themselves.

But what's important, and so beautifully reflected by Dickinson's poem, is that the girls do take the effort to work through it. As Rodriguez's story progresses, the reader clearly sees Emily and Elizabeth transform from being isolated and angry, to reaching out to others. Rodriguez beautifully interweaves this growth vis-a-vis the poems that both girls analyze and their literary projects, remind them that there's hope in the darkness.

Both Rodriguez's writing and Dickinson's poem are reminders that like the light in a storm, or the canary in a mine, hope is something that keeps people going, and it's something that never asks anything from you.

Bottom line: read both the book and the poem - they compliment each other, and they're both specacular in their own right!

Giveaway time!

Thanks to the awesome folks at Bloomsbury, we have a hardcover of When Reason Breaks to give away!

About the author:

Cindy L. Rodriguezis a former newspaper reporter turned public school teacher. She now teaches as a reading specialist at a Connecticut middle school but previously worked for theHartford Courantand theBoston Globe. She and her young daughter live in Plainville, Connecticut. This is her debut novel.

Emily

4/16/2015 04:17:55 pm

I love this poem! Looking forward to seeing how it fits with this book!